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A couple sketches I did on break for a game I play with some friends. These are pencil and digital. The one up top is a Wood Elf who can summon a wolf (which comes in quite handy - wish I could do that) and the bottom one is a Half Orc who most people think is well... way too sexy.

Knowing that I was too stressed, my dad brought out the old charcoal set and told me I need to loosen up with some sketches not pertaining to current projects. This was done with charcoal, brushes, and smudge-sticks. The paper is actually from a Piccadilly sketchbook with woodless paper that I would highly recommend. It has a wonderful smoothness and accepts drawing mediums well.

I'm revisiting an old piece with this oil painting. Originally this lady pilot was a digital sample for my portfolio. I'd love to do a series of these WWII era vehicle paintings. The image is 36 x 24 inches.

0 Comments on Flying Lady and Her P-40 Warhawk as of 4/13/2015 12:34:00 PM

I missed St. Patrick's Day here on the ole blog, but at least there's a little girl in a green dress above! It's a digital color sketch I intend to use as reference for a painting. It's subject to change as it is not entirely finished. The final will most likely be cropped in as well.

I went to see Big Hero 6 last week, and it was a truly fabulous film! If you haven't seen it you should go soon. The movie stays on point never wandering, building steadily on a message that is made very real as you see the characters respond to the action that whirls into their lives. I won't give anything away here, but you get to see the distinct results of two decisions as the characters are paralleled. Big sacrifices. Great stuff!

Also in an art related thing, I was glad to find that Jin Kim has a new tumblr page. His blog had shut down some time ago, but the new page has some cool Big Hero 6 work on it. From what I understand, these are sketches Jin Kim created translating the finalized character designs into multiple angle drawings for the model builders to reference. Over the last few years I've really taken an interest in sculpture, so I enjoy these quite a bit, and I'm a big fan of Mr. Kim's work.

And keeping with the animation theme of this post, you should check out the short film Duet, by Glen Keane. I had seen this a few months back and I recall reading an article where Glen Keane expressed an interest in exploring the possibility of keeping the integrity of the drawn line in animation. Most completed films have the inked lines and colored cells, but the raw beauty of the gesture sketch is lost on an image refined to that point. This film is one of the most beautiful things I've seen in animation.

I've had the busiest last three months trying to get a few illustration jobs tackled, and commissions done on the side. I got to some painting during the holidays, a few being on some old pallet boards that I varnished and gessoed.

It's really a cool idea, but it's important to make sure the boards are secure, and that there's more than putty filling the cracks. A little wood glue and shims with putty on top should keep your painting from cracking.

Here and there I did some drawings with my bro Alex on his comic Super Strike 10. He has this species of aliens called Rygols that were nearly wiped out by the Grakons during a planet seige as part of one of his character's backstories. I like to joke with him about just how bad it got, since there aren't a lot of details yet on how the Rygols fair in his story, and I've really grown attached to the Rygol chief Scratch who seemed to catch the brunt of it. (Some of these are kinda rough, but thanks to the marvels of medical science, he pulls through okay.)

And then there's this space pirate who talks with a stylish slavic accent. Alex colored them here.

Andrew and I have also been working more on Men of Bounty and doing a few period styles sketches. The pages are looking awesome. Oddly enough the scans below are mostly drawings of women.

And this concludes the things I've been doing on weekends and breaks for the past few months. As soon as some of my other work gets published or I finish my current commissions, I'll update with a post. Back to work!